Expect the Padres to address their need for a left-handed hitter and/or a left-handed reliever by the Dec. 12 end of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings.

“We’re in a handful of productive discussions,” Padres General Manager Josh Byrnes said Saturday morning. “I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll address these areas.

“By the time the Winter Meetings end, we will have done something. We’re lined up on a few trade ideas over the next couple weeks.”

Byrnes wasn’t specific about what deals the Padres are discussing. Don’t expect them to add a left-handed slugger with a 30-homer season on his résumé. But they could be adding a player capable of logging 400 at-bats next season.

“We didn’t hit right-handed pitching the way we wanted to last season,” Byrnes said.

That was particularly true after Yonder Alonso was essentially lost for the season after being hit on the right hand on May 31.

The Padres hit only .241 with 94 homers in 3,916 at-bats against right-handed pitching last season. They hit .254 with 52 homers in just 1,601 at-bats against left-handers.

What do the Padres have to offer teams interested in trading them a left-handed bat? Starting pitching.

Figure that the right deal could cost the Padres one of the following three pitchers: Burch Smith, Robbie Erlin or Eric Stults. As it stands now, all three should be vying for the No. 5 slot in the rotation, at best.

The Padres’ projected rotation starts with Andrew Cashner and includes Josh Johnson, Ian Kennedy and Tyson Ross. Given recent developments, the Padres are now cautiously optimistic about the delayed returns of Cory Luebke and Joe Wieland from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

Though the Padres won’t be trading such prospects as Matt Wisler and Max Fried, they have a surplus of pitching in a market that is paying off-the-chart prices in the free-agent arena.

The Padres could afford to move one starting pitcher and possibly two without crippling the rotation — although the rash of injuries in 2012 is still very fresh in the minds of Byrnes and manager Bud Black.

“If you expect to get something of value, you have to expect to give up something of value,” Byrnes said recently.

Roster moves

The Giants have claimed right-handed pitcher Jose De Paula from the Padres.

De Paula, 25, was one of four players designated for assignment last week when the Padres added pitchers Josh Johnson, Donn Roach, Keyvius Sampson and Juan Pablo Oramas to the 40-man roster.

The other three — relief pitchers Brad Brach and Miles Mikolas and outfielder Jaff Decker — were traded for prospects (outfielder-first baseman Alex Dickerson and pitcher Devin Jones) who do not have to be added to the 40-man roster this winter.

The Padres have the maximum 40 players on their 40-man roster and don’t expect to eliminate anyone before Tuesday’s deadline to non-tender players on the major league roster. Unless the Padres create an opening via trade, they will not have room to add a player through the Rule 5 draft.